Cops: Killers are from Todds Road area

Farmer murdered, wife chopped at their home

HOMICIDE detectives believe the men who attacked farmer Terry Bahal and his wife Christie on Tuesday night may have been from the Todds Station Road, Caparo area as they knew how to escape through the forest despite the use of police sniffer dogs and a helicopter.

Terry Bahal was shot dead in the attack while Christie remains in stable condition at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex in Mt Hope.

The Express visited the home yesterday.

Todds Station Road is a lonely area. There is forest on both sides of the road in an area that straddles the Central Range with neighbours few and far between.

Bahal's brother-in-law, James Gonzales, explained that even if gunshots were fired no one would pay attention because persons either wouldn't hear it or it would be dismissed as, "hunters in the bush", as the area is well known for its wild meat.

Surdeye Bahal, Bahal's mother, was at her son's house yesterday afternoon.

Surrounded by friends and family, she appeared to be coping with the tragedy but declined to be interviewed.

Gonzales, on the other hand, said Terry Bahal arrived home around 9.15 p.m. while his wife was being beaten and chopped by the two bandits.

He along with a few taxi-drivers in the area confirmed that the Bahal's had been robbed four times before.

Evident at the house were Bahal's efforts to secure his property with fence posts all around but no fencing had been put up.

"He was going to let go two Rottweiler to run in the yard nah, so while he left his wife at home she would have been safe", said Gonzales.

He said on Tuesday night the bandits first killed the family's two guard dogs (pot hounds) following which they stormed the house and attacked Bahal's wife.

Bahal returned home after doing some business at the Macoya Market, met the bandits and ultimately his death.

"I know that Terry is a man he woulda fight them bandits cause he fed-up get rob", said Gonzales.

Bahal was the president of the Caparo Valley Farmers Association and the brother of Dhano Sookoo, president of the Agricultural Society of Trinidad and Tobago.

His funeral is tentatively scheduled for Saturday but a time and place have not yet been announced.